Archives for February 2011

Fifteen year olds Jeremiah McKim and Daniel Ferdig called McKim’s mother on a cell phone to say they’d become disoriented as they were hiking. Deputies talked with the pair to figure out where they were. An off duty Missouri Highway Patrol Trooper, Cpl Eldon Grissom, went to the park with his personal boat to help in the rescue operation. The boys were found, given life vests and taken back across the lake to a waiting ambulance to be checked out. Sheriff’s official called it a successful operation because the boys had a cell phone and could communicate where they were by landmarks, making it a quick rescue.

There’s a food drive tomorrow in Kirksville and you won’t believe who’s putting it on.

Halex GT Herbicide! Yes, a herbicide, and spokesman Carroll Moseley says there’s a very good reason:

He said, “In 1970 or so, we only raised about four billion bushels of corn in this country. Now, with not a whole lot more acreage, we’re raising over 13 billion bushels of corn. We’ve become a lot more productive as American farmers.”

Moseley said his company believes no one should go hungry with all the food that’s produced in the US today. He said everyone can come out to the food drive tomorrow and contribute. The food drive is at the Country Market on US Highway 63 in Kirksville from noon to 5 p.m. tomorrow.

Officials at the Randolph County Sheriff’s department confirm that there was some property damage from possible tornadoes that blew through the area last night. They said some trucks were blown off the road, there was damage to some buildings but did not indicate that anybody was hurt.

While the budget for Adair county will remain steady in the upcoming fiscal year, commissioners say a tax increase is likely in order to fund the budge. Unexpected and rising costs are combining with stable yet sluggish tax revenues to make an increase likely. The increase would be subject to voter approval in November. A proposed increase amount hasn’t been set.

The two major increases in expense in the proposed budget are repairs to the county’s roads and bridges in the wake of last year’s extensive flooding, and the skyrocketing cost o f employee health insurance, as is being experienced by businesses throughout the community.

A Kirksville woman has been arrested by Lewis county authorities. 23-year old Diane Thompson faces charges related to a a rash of thefts from tenants at the Lewistown Senior Housing Complex in Lewistown. The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office says Thompson was charged with two counts of a class B felony of burglary in the first degree. According to Sheriff David Parrish, Thompson would knock on the doors of residents apartments and ask to use the restroom. Later the residents would realize money was missing. Thompson remains jailed in Lewis County in lieu of bond.

Officials at Northeast Regional Medical Center say the facility has joined an exclusive list with some of the most well-respected hospitals in the country. NRMC was named one of the 50 best hospitals in America, according to a list published in the recent edition of Becker’s Hospital Review. In a news release, officials said the list focused on acute-care, multi-specialty, academic medical centers and large community hospitals. NRMC was one of only two Missouri hospitals on the list, the other being Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. Other hospitals to make the list included Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Missouri Highway Patrol’s Tim Hull said you can’t report what you can’t see.

He said, “Part of the reason our numbers are so high in the state of Missouri (is because) the different law enforcement agencies do a tremendous job of tracking and being able to take these labs out.”

Hull said Missouri had 1,980 “incidents’ in 2010. Tennessee finished second with 1,197. Kentucky had the third worst record, 1,045 busts.

Hull thinks one reason Missouri tops the national list every year is because Missouri law enforcement officers work harder at catching meth-makers than officers in other states do.

He said, “Maybe their numbers aren’t as high as our because they’re not being quite as aggressive as Missouri law enforcement is in finding these labs and locating them.”

The number of meth labs seized in Missouri in 20-10 was 53 percent more than were seized in 2007….and about 760 more than were seized in Tennessee, the second biggest meth state last year.

A Kirksville woman was flown from the scene of a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer in Scotland County on Tuesday.

Missouri State Highway Patrol said 22 year old Becky Newland was eastbound on Highway 136, about five miles east of Downing when her car crossed the center line and collided head on with a westbound semi that 20 year old Devin Head of Derby, Iowa was driving. MSHP said Head was not hurt but that Newland was seriously hurt in the crash. She was flown to University Hospital in Columbia.

An Adair County sheriff’s deputy is continuing rehabilitation, and now there’s community is help the family.

There’s a fundraiser coming up tomorrow for Sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Pitts and his family. Its at the Adair County Fairgrounds and starts at 5 p.m. tomorrow. There’s food, music, auctions, raffles, and all the proceeds go to the Pitts Family. Pitts was removing a deer from the road near Radical Ridge on Highway 6 when he fell into a culvert and hit his head. A passing motorist called 911, and since then, Pitts has been going through rehab. If you want to donate money or items for the auctions, you can do so at Victim Support Services at 1800 E. La Harpe St. Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m.

FORECASTERS SAY PRECIPITATION WILL BEGIN LATE THURSDAY AFTERNOON… MAINLY IN THE FORM OF RAIN…HOWEVER WILL QUICKLY TRANSITION OVER TO A SNOW AND SLEET MIX BY EARLY THURSDAY EVENING. THIS MIX WILL BECOME ENTIRELY SNOW THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS.

* MINOR SLEET ACCUMULATIONS ARE POSSIBLE…HOWEVER MOST ACCUMULATION WILL BE IN THE FORM OF SNOW…WHERE 2 TO 4 INCHES ARE EXPECTED…WITH A FEW LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS.

* IMPACTS…SNOWFALL RATES IN EXCESS OF ONE INCH PER HOUR WILL BE LIKELY THURSDAY EVENING…CREATING DIFFICULT DRIVING CONDITIONS